Rats in the Cellar

By going into a forbidden part of his house, Oscar Wild Daugherty has become lost in a network of multiple universes. He really wants to get home. Now, his only friends are other copies of himself, also lost, and a cat who is obviously more than just a cat.

It’s all the same house, but in different worlds, each slightly different. All of them are a dystopian nightmare of one sort or another. In most of their worlds, the electricity is off as often as on, school is closed half the time, and the police only protect those who can pay them. His parents, though lucky enough to have jobs, earn barely enough to survive. In some worlds, his dad has become a crook and his mum is loosing her sanity. That is upsetting to Oscar. Also, his uncle is a paedophile and a predator.

In some worlds, his country is on the brink of a war that could go nuclear, and in others, they’re hopelessly divided by radical political views.

All Oscar can hope to do is exchange one dystopia for another. He only wants to find a universe where his neighbourhood isn't likely to be nuked, where he's safe from his paedophile uncle, and he has a loving and stable set of parents. He also wouldn't mind living as a twin to one of his other doubles. But the cat has bigger plans…